HTM On The Line with BRYANT HAWKINS SR.

“Faith, Failure and Fixing Imaging Equipment: Lessons from Mike Reagan”

• Bryant Hawkins Sr.

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In this powerful episode of HTM On The Line, host Bryant Hawkins Sr. sits down with Mike Reagan from Innovative Radiology, a veteran imaging engineer whose 38-year career stretches from a war-torn childhood in Eritrea to becoming one of the most respected voices in medical imaging.

Mike’s journey is an example of resilience and purpose. From being adopted out of a conflict zone to mastering some of the most advanced imaging systems in healthcare, he shares how faith, curiosity, and mentorship shaped every step of his path.

They discuss:

  • How chance and divine timing led Mike into the biomedical field through the military.
  • The day he accidentally quenched an MRI magnet, costing over $150,000, and how that moment of failure became a turning point in humility, leadership, and process improvement.
  • The evolving role of AI in HTM, and why technology can assist but never replace the human heart behind the repair.
  • The importance of valuing engineers, providing training, recognition, and real work-life balance to sustain the profession.
  • Why HTM professionals must remember that behind every calibration is a patient whose life depends on it.

Mike’s story reminds us that true excellence isn’t about perfection, it’s about purpose, integrity, and showing up when it matters most.

Big thanks to our partners: College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, A.M. BICKFORD, INC., UptimeServices, MD Publishing and Innovative Radiology. Your support keeps the HTM mission alive!

This podcast was published by the B-Hawk Network.


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Bryant Hawkins:

Welcome to HTM on the line. I'm your host, Bryant Hawkins Sr. Today's episode is one of those conversations that reminds you why this field is more than just a career, it's a calling. My guest, Mike Reagan from Innovative Radiology, has been in the game for nearly four decades. His story starts halfway around the world and unfolds into a journey built on purpose, resilience, and passion for the craft. From being adopted out of a war zone to mastering some of the most advanced imaging systems in healthcare, Mike's Life is a testament to what happens when skill meets heart. So whether you're an industry veteran or just getting started, this episode will remind you why what we do matters and why doing it with excellence challenges everything. Let's get into it. I'm with a special guest today, Mr. Mike Reagan from Innovative Radiology. How are you doing today, Mike?

Mike ragan:

I am doing wonderful. Thank you for having me on board.

Bryant Hawkins:

Just give us a little bit about yourself, Mike. Give us an history, like on where you're from, how long you've been in the industry, what types of equipment you work on. I know you're an imaging engineer, but just give us a little bit of information about you.

Mike ragan:

As you know, my name is Michael Reagan or Mike Reagan. I'm originally from Eritrea or Ethiopia. Born there. My mom passed when I was maybe very young, within six months of me being being born. The war between Ethiopia and Eritrea was starting the conflict, and my father was involved in that war. And so I was put into a Catholic home, and I got adopted out of that Catholic home by an American family who happened to be over there. And my American father was in the same kind of industry that I'm in, but he worked more in telecommunication and fixing satellites and radar dishes and parabolic antennas and stuff like that in the communication sector of the army. And so when he was over there, him and my American mom decided to adopt a child. I came back to Kansas, grew up near Fort Riley, Junction City, Kansas, home of the big red one. And then from there ended up going to elementary, junior high, high school, went to Kansas State University. And my thoughts was to please my parents. So I wanted to be uh a lawyer. So that I thought that that was going to be my passion, and that really wasn't. And so eventually I kind of dropped out of school a couple years into it. I got my associate's degree, but then I went into the military just for a new journey because I wasn't happy on the journey that I was currently at. And everything in the military got me into fixing things. I was just a fixer. I fixed uh air conditioners, air conditioners, refrigerators. I worked on signal systems in the telecommunication sector. And then after two years in the military, I got reclassed because the MOS that I really never worked in was over strength. So I was put on the needs of the army to uh get an MOS that they needed manpower in, and I qualified for biomedical engineering. And so it was by luck. I think it was God intervened and put me on this tangent to where 30, 37, 38 years later, I'm loving the industry that I'm in.

Bryant Hawkins:

Was there a specific moment or experience early in your career that really locked in that sense of purpose for you?

Mike ragan:

I would just say that being, you know, the best you can be doing the job and having the passion to make every job. It's kind of taking one task and walking the path through that task to make sure it's the best that it is. And you're doing and and not being too scared to ask for help. I don't know if there was one particular area, but I think just basically having pride in everything that you do and making sure that you're doing the best that you can while you're doing that that one particular task.

Bryant Hawkins:

Yes, right. Now, how do you pass that same drive and motivation you have to the young techs that's coming into the industry?

Mike ragan:

You gotta make them, in my opinion, you have to make them understand, you know, especially in certain sectors what you're doing. It all is important, but you got to give them the broad scope of, you know, when I teach a student or another colleague how an ultrasound machine works versus an x-ray machine works, they've got to understand the fundamentals of those and what the purpose of each device is to do in the back end. What the what does the doctor, what is the clinician, the people that are talking to the patients directly, what are they trying to see in the machines that we're actually troubleshooting and repairing? So if a person comes in that doesn't know imaging at all and and gets confused with what a CT scanner is versus an x-ray machine versus an ultrasound, each of them is deliberate in their own, you know, in their own build. When they manufacture something, they're manufactured for a particular reason. And so sometimes getting them to understand there's a lot out there, but you know, whatever segment that they land in, whether it be ultrasound repair, x-ray repair, linear accelerator repair, that they try to understand the fundamentals of what the what the goal of that modality is, that device is, and what the end result is. Because if you know that, then it comes down to understanding the flow, the logic, the communication, what the customer, the technologist is needing. So I try to get them to understand the fundamentals of each machine that they touch.

Bryant Hawkins:

Imaging technology, we know today it's just advancing in a crazy space. You have AI integration, you got cloud storage, predictive. It's like changing everything. So my question is do you see AI as a true partner or as something that might complicate our world a bit? Which how do you see AI?

Mike ragan:

It kind of can be a little bit intimidating because you know, you always wonder if you're going to get replaced by AI, but I really don't think so. I think it's going to be an advantage to the service engineer to basically streamline knowledge of what's broken, what's wrong with that device. Sometimes I'm worried that you know, AI is going to be to the point to where the machine automatically says, okay, Mike Reagan, this CT scanner needs this, this, and this. And here comes these parts being FedEx to the location. And then next thing you know, all I have to do is go and install it and calibrate it and so forth. But you know, in the troubleshooting aspect, I think it's going to be very, you know, beneficial to where some of the reports and the reporting that we have to go into the air logs now to deduce some problems with the machine, it's automatically going to be spit out at us before we it's going to be analytics that we can just log in, possibly to through a cell phone or through an app and say, oh, this machine is having this particular problem. These particular parts would be the best possible ordered suggestions. And the cost is X amount of dollars. It can be there tomorrow at a certain time, and all we have to do is show up and do what we do. I don't think our line of work will go away. I think it may be made easier, faster. But sometimes it's you know it makes you wonder what 20 years from now is going to look like 20 years.

Bryant Hawkins:

If AI could take over one announced part of your job, which tasks would you hand over first?

Mike ragan:

I personally speaking, I love the repair. I love going to the site, interacting with the customer. Realistically speaking, if it was a documentation and the service reports and and you know getting everything kind of programmed in the background to where I just do the work and you know my documentation is handled, expense reports are handled, all that kind of stuff is done. I think that would make you know.

Bryant Hawkins:

Now, Mike, can you tell us about a time when you had an itch issue with a piece of imaging equipment or imaging system that really tests your skills and composure? But when you solve that problem, it reminded you why you do what you do. Because I know you guys in imaging, everything's high, everything is high priority. So you really go in with the pressure cooking. So is there a time where you had you know it test your skills along with your till? You seem like you're an even till type of person, like you even killed, like you always on level head. Was there a time where your skills and composure was tested?

Mike ragan:

Yes, a few years ago, actually trying to do a test on an MRI that is an annual test, and I was doing it for a colleague because he because he was on PTO. And so I said, okay, it needed to be done by by the end of the end of the week, which was you know, it was already Tuesday or Wednesday, and he needed it done. He was on PTO. I went ahead and knocked it out, but then I quenched the magnet, uh quenched the MRI. And then that's uh very, very costly. Uh-oh, you know, so yeah, yeah, that was my that was my and then you know, getting it fixed took time, it cost the facility money, you know, it was kind of one of those things that am I going to lose my job? Because I was following the process, but the process was a little bit ambiguous ambiguous, and you know, ended up quenching a magnet. And I was, you know, the system was working before I got there. And then before, you know, when I left, it was like I had to talk to the director of the facility and tell them that their only MRI is no longer functional. So it took us about a week to get it back operational, and about $150,000.

Bryant Hawkins:

From you dealing with that experience, what did you learn from that?

Mike ragan:

I think the biggest thing is things like that do happen. My leadership did support me on it. And I think I was harder on myself than you know, leadership, management, healthcare community. I was harder on myself because I'm very hard on myself, you know. You know, I have pride in what I do, and taking down a magnet after so many years of working on systems like that is like you don't want that in your history books, you know. So, you know, I just had to forgive myself and leadership for, you know, they didn't hold me responsible. As a matter of fact, they they extended, you know, saying, hey, we need to get you uh to make sure that you do know this, you know, so the next time this won't happen, and we have to make it more to where this is not a you read it the wrong way and you press this button versus press this button, and and you know, things go south. But I think the biggest thing is forgiving myself to say the accidents like that can happen, but we try to minimize.

Bryant Hawkins:

During those moments, do you think those type of intense moments are what truly defines the HTM profession?

Mike ragan:

I I think yes, the support with the leadership and you know, understanding that we're a community, that we have to do better to be better. Things like getting training, understanding who we can call in a situation like this. I think, you know, we there are certain things to do the walk that we walk on a daily basis. You need the support from your leadership, you need the support from the community, the HTM community to you know pass out the information. You know, it's I'm very willing to help people learn. And I just, you know, just want the people to to know as much as I do, you know, and and and if there's people that have information out there that I can glean, I'm willing to know it, you know.

Bryant Hawkins:

Yeah, yeah, because that shows that you know you're human. And unfortunately, sometimes we don't have that luxury to be human and make mistakes, you know, especially when you're dealing with an MRI. And that was amazing that your leadership, you know, supported you because when you quench a magnet, I mean, that's that's that's not possible. On no levels. So I can kind of understand your stress and the fact they had your back, that's amazing. And that truly shows that the HTM profession, you have people that you know appreciate the work you do, and they're not letting one situation define you. And you know the old saying, what you go through, you grow through. So I'm more than sure that was a horrible experience, but you probably now became 10 times better from that.

Mike ragan:

Right. And and because the fact that I was doing it as a favor for someone else, it's kind of even worse. It was like, wow, if the other guy would have been here and done that, maybe this wouldn't have happened. But it could have happened with him too, because he would have probably read the same instructions that I was given. And and you know, it was it was confusing. And I think you know, we had created a process after that to identify how the reading of the the step-by-step, how to do this particular test was incorrectly written. You know, I think it maybe was written in in Germany and in in German words and then translated to English, and then it lost direction. And so you could, you know, you could kind of fumble on that. So we kind of went in and took those so it wouldn't happen again. So we made it clear and we helped everybody to to make sure they knew the step process.

Bryant Hawkins:

What's the biggest culture shift you've noticed since you started?

Mike ragan:

You know, finding quality people out there sometimes is hard. I think sometimes the culture now is just we as biomeds and imaging service personnel, we're kind of like I wouldn't say trash men, but we, you know, they they get somebody and they think, okay, well, he has a little bit of background in this, now he can do everything. And it's you know, no, you gotta you kind of have to take time to learn and bone up on certain things to be, you know, kind of a subject matter expert at this versus this versus that. And I think sometimes the culture is as we try to get one person to do, you know, mammography, x-ray, bone density, C arms, linear accelerators, CT, MRI, portables, you know, injectors, cath labs, all that stuff. And you cannot fill the one person to do all that and you know have a uh a lifetime, you know, a life, you know, they get burnt out.

Bryant Hawkins:

Now, you mentioned all the high pressure and all the things they ask of you, or not you, but of the imaging engineer today. How do you keep morale strong in such moments? You know, you have so much on your plate. How do you keep your morale strong?

Mike ragan:

I think the best way to keep morale strong is to value your employees, value your your peers. You keep uh you give them training, you uh you understand what's needed. You know, you can't ask a person to go and drive a car without a driver's license. You know, you can drive it, you can drive it illegally, but you know, you got to give them the keys and the tools and the the necessary items to do the job and not just expect them to because he's right there to do it. You know, kind of each one can teach one, but you know, the analogy is is as it as the communication goes down the pipe, it get kind of gets watered down. So you gotta keep the training, you gotta keep, you know, you gotta keep the training up. You also have to compensate. The industry, again, they're trying to do more with less, but then they're also trying to, you know, pay less, you know. So there's a lot of competition. So they have to kind of come up and say, what is the industry out there looking at? We can't, you know, go with 1980 standards in 2025, you know, and have that pay. And it's not about pay, it's about valuing that particular service engineer, that particular person that's doing the job and looking at one work-life balance, two compensation, three education, you know, and then sometimes kudos on what they did. Sometimes, like I said, you never get recognized, you never get thanked. Not that we're looking for recognition or thanks, but it's like hurry up and hurry up and get here, and then hurry up and leave, and we'll call you when it breaks again, you know. And then sometimes it's like, what are you doing here? You know, what's broken now? You know, so it's it can be it can be sweet, and then sometimes it can just be like, you know, trudgery, I guess you would say. Okay, I'm just being honest.

Bryant Hawkins:

Well, hey, I appreciate that. If you could redesign one thing about the way hospitals treat HTM professionals, what would it be? Hospitals clinics. If you could redesign, redesign one thing about the way HTM professionals are treated, what would it be?

Mike ragan:

I think by you know recognition, recognizing them for who they are, you find there's been many hospitals I've gone into, and the biomeds, the imaging guys are in a basement, in a closet. They're in a room that is almost like the movie office space, where the guy's getting moved out of his cubicle into a rat-infested little box, you know, down in the cleaning area. And you know, it's like it's it can be kind of condescending to come there year after year, day after day, and and be kind of like put into a cubicle that is you can't even store your test equipment, you don't have enough room to have any parts and stuff like that, and you're it's cold or damp, dark, you know, it it's bad. But I think recognition kind of, you know, not they don't need to be treated like kings and you know, princesses and stuff like that, but they they need the you know, they need space, they need understanding, they need kudos for what they've done. You walk through some of the healthcare systems that I've walked through, there's not a single picture of a biomed or an imaging service engineer. You have people like housekeeping, you have people like nurses, you have people like technologists, doctors that are all throughout the hospital, but you have no pictures of anybody that is support staff, whether it be even in the uh mechanical engineering, the guys that keep the facilities operational. I've noticed that there's very few limited amount of pictures with that. And I think that's you know, you got to support and even show that we exist. I think that the world doesn't know that we exist. Before I got into this field, I didn't know that, you know, there was anything like biomed or imaging, you know, who took care? I didn't know who took care of the equipment in the hospital. I assumed somebody was doing it, but I had no clue. So we're kind of a forgotten entity.

Bryant Hawkins:

Oh, definitely always. Yeah. Now, what's one piece of advice that kept you grounded throughout your career?

Mike ragan:

It's just focus on the task and then do a good job at that and knock that out of the box, you know, out of the park, and then move on to the next.

Bryant Hawkins:

If you were talking to a classroom full of juniors and seniors, what would you tell them about the HTM industry?

Mike ragan:

I would say it would be a great field to get into. If you're into fixing things, repairing things, learning how things work, if you're analytical, if you have a passion for future and science, if you have a direction in in like AI or working with robotics or mechanical, this is a great career field. It's it's it's uh a career field that will take you in any direction. You can get, you know, you can hit it at the thousand-foot level and see how everything kind of works, but then you'll probably end up in a specific field, you know, and that that field that you get into will be something that you will 20 years, 30 years later you'll still be doing and you'll be loving it. So I would highly recommend, you know, learning about it, onboarding with somebody, you know, getting mentored by somebody, kind of defining what certain things do, what the objective is, and coming on board and you know, you you'll you'll really enjoy it. I think you really will. The the pay is decent, the it's it's consistent. There's always something to do, and we we would love to have you.

Bryant Hawkins:

When you look back years from now, what did you want people to say about my Reagan impact in HTM?

Mike ragan:

I would like to be known as a person that was very ethical, that he did what he said and said what he did. And he believed that the reason he is here is to take care of that patient that comes into the hospital. You know, I might never see them, might never speak to them, but I want to know at the end of the day that you know, my calibrating a piece of equipment correctly, properly, taking the time to do what I can do on a machine painstakingly, laying on the floor, doing what I've got to do, and tightening up something and adjusting a belt or calibrating an X-ray tube that possibly that led to a positive outcome on that patient's journey. I'm very, very patient-centered. I do this for the particular patient that comes into the hospital. I see them come sick and I see them hopefully leave well. And that's you know what I would like to be, you know, remembered as. This guy was very ethical. He was a hard worker, he knew what he was doing. If he didn't know what he's doing, he knew who to call to get support and help. And I loved doing every day what I do.

Bryant Hawkins:

If your equipment could leave you a Yelp review, what do you think it would say?

Mike ragan:

Well, you know, when Mike comes to uh work on me, I know that he's gonna bring that awful vacuum cleaner and that the teapot blower and dust me out and all the dust and debris that was in the fans and everything. I feel like I'm 10 pounds lighter, I can breathe a lot easier, and I feel a lot better, you know, where I was kind of lagging a five-volt power supply, was limping along at 4.7 volts, and he adjusted me up to 5.1, 5.25. So it would be on the top end of the spectrum, and I feel much better. And I'm doing what I'm supposed to do so I can help this patient.

Bryant Hawkins:

Great answer, man. Well, Mike, look man, I appreciate you taking some time to come on HTMLine. Congratulations on an awesome career, man. 38 years is nothing to sneeze at. A lot of people don't get that long in this industry, and it's to be commended. And I appreciate you coming on, and I wish you much success in your continued great career.

Mike ragan:

Well, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. I appreciate us getting together and doing this. And if there's anybody that would like to, I'm very much a I like to teach, I like to spread my knowledge to where I think I get that from my mom as a school teacher. I just like to teach and I like teaching and mentoring people in this field. Love doing it, you know. And I try to put it into a way that they can understand where the light bulb comes on. And that's just a big passion that I have for being in the HTM community.

Bryant Hawkins:

You know, Mike's story reminds us this work isn't just about fixing equipment, it's about impact. Every repair, every calibration, every long day means someone gets another chance at life. So keep showing up, keep growing, keep serving with purpose. Because in HTM, excellence isn't about being perfect, it's about being present when it matters most. This is HTM on the line from Bryant Hawkins Sr. Stay purpose driven, stay unstoppable.

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